Enlightened

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks reading (among other things) C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series.  I had never read any of these books until I found out that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was being made into a movie, and David (who counts this series among his favorite books – we have 3 complete sets of the series, all his) refused to let me see the movie until I read the book.  So since it’s maybe 150 pages written for children, I read it the day before the movie came out.  But I didn’t just read it, I devoured it.  I loved it. And while I often have no patience for Christian fiction (it’s so cliche, or in-your-face, or obviously aligned with a very specific way of thought), this seemed a perfect balance.  For those who believe themselves to be educated in Christian history or Christian thought, you can clearly see what message Lewis is getting at.  I think pretty much anyone can grasp that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe parallels, in many ways, Christ’s sacrifice, forgiveness, and the power of love (see the forest scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for a similar reference in children’s literature). And yet for children, it can also be a simple, enjoyable story with a moral. It’s a classic tale of good triumphing over evil.

But as I’ve read through the remainder of the series (in preparation for the Prince Caspian movie, which I’m going to see this afternoon), I’ve seen that Lewis deals with the deepest intricacies of Christianity: the trinity, transubstantiation, heaven/hell, original sin and even more contemporary issues like secular religion and gender rights. The books are, at times, very dark, and yet never the less enjoyable for that.  I wish I’d had the chance to read these as a child and had been able to “grow into” the deeper meanings in these short novels.  Because as I’ve read the remaining books in the series, I’ve been moved and inspired more deeply by Christian writing than ever before.  There may be whole bookstores of devotionals and Christian studies, but these seven children’s books are a good place to start.

Reading for Me

This semester, for the first time ever I think, I don’t have an incredibly heavy reading load. I’m used to having at least two lit classes at a time and reading a minimum of one or two novels a week, some of which I enjoyed, many of which I did not. This semester is completely different. My Old English class has some reading, but most of my time with the class is spent translating, which is sometimes frustrating, but mostly it’s just time consuming. But I can do it while doing other things, like watching TV. My Pop Culture class has regular theoretical readings, but none too lengthy or over-the-top.

So, much to my great delight, I find myself with time to read things that I want to read. And while I always have a very long list of things I want to read (see my Wish List for proof), I am currently being drawn to books that may be useful for my dissertation. I’m actually getting to think practically about my dissertation, which is kind of amazing in and of itself. This big thing that has been looming ahead of me for quite some time is sort of becoming real. I’m getting feedback from professors and putting together a book list. It’s amazing. And fun. I’m reading some great contemporary stuff. I just finished Junot Diaz’s Drown and it was beautiful and thought-provoking. I went to Borders with Dave this weekend and found it almost impossible to pick which of many books I wanted to read next. I get to pick! It’s amazing and, in large part because of this, I’m really loving being in school right now. It’s really a good time for me.

PS-Can you believe it’s October? I can’t.

Reading Recommendations

I get asked fairly frequently for reading recommendations, which I suppose makes sense. The problem is, I tend to blank any time I try to think of something to recommend. For one thing, I have very little time to read things for fun. And while lately what I’ve been reading for class has been some truly great reading, that’s not always the case. I also tend to doubt that other people will like things I like because I tend to mostly read things that will make me think whereas a lot of people I know (including myself directly after each semester) read to get away, to not think. But, I do want to be helpful to my friends who ask. So, if you’ll notice a little tab on the right under the heading “Books I Want to Read,” that will take you to my Amazon wish list where you can at least see books (as the rather obvious titles implies) that I want to read. The books on the list are labeled “fun” or “school,” so you won’t think some of the choices are for fun and that I really have become a huge dork:) Hopefully I’ll eventually make a “Books I Recommend” list of things that I have read and love. We’ll see how much time I have to procrastinate! Anyway, enjoy, or not:)

Edit: Okay, I did decide to make a 2nd list of Books I Love. It has books of all kinds: school books, fun books, books on spirituality, children’s books, etc. You can find a link to that list on the right side of this page, too. Enjoy.

Clean Dog

This is a lazy week for me. I had to work really hard Sunday night and Monday morning to write my last paper for my summer class. Since then, though, I’ve been quite lazy. I finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which I started in Louisville), beat Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the Wii and started Zelda (which is great by the way), and have gotten some little to-dos done. I have until the 28th of August off, and though I have some little things to do, nothing is too time consuming. And it feels great not to have a deadline breathing down my back right now. It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve had room to breathe.

Today, Potter was acting a little mopey (I think he misses the beach!), so once the temperature became bearable (as in 85 degrees or so around 7:30) I took him to the Greenway for a walk. He was like a different dog as soon as we got there. He had so much fun just running through the high grass. He literally ran circles around me!

While we were out there, we walked past a lady walking her three dogs off-leash. She had a poodle, a pugish dog, and a mix-n-match medium size dog, all of whom looked and were sweet. She stopped to pet Potter and remarked how beautiful he is (which I didn’t mind hearing!). Then she commented on how soft he was and said, “Well you can tell he’s loved. He’s so clean. I bet he’s not spoiled at all!” She said it as a compliment and was a sweet lady, but this is not the first time people have connected the fact that my dog is clean to him being spoiled; I’ve probably heard it 5 or 6 times. Okay, I won’t deny that’s he slightly spoiled (more with affection than with “things”) but why does the fact that he’s clean make him spoiled? As a Lab, Potter’s hair is water-resistant, so any time he gets overly dirty and wet, as soon as he dries off the dirt just brushes off. Of course we still bathe him, but not constantly or anything. It just seems like a weird connection to me; if you keep your dog clean, he must be spoiled. Really? Is that weird to anyone else?

Although I guess if people are going to make comments about my dog to me, they could certainly be worse than commenting on his cleanliness!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I just finished reading the final Harry Potter book and, though I have tons to say, I’m going to keep quiet (for now) out of respect for my friends and family that think its important to get more than an hour and a half of sleep rather than finish a book as fast as possible:) I will, however, tell you about our adventure of getting the book, which turned out to be a bit more of an ordeal than planned!

I had pre-ordered copies of the book from Borders for Jessica, Dave, and I months ago (I’m thinking it was at least in May) and they didn’t provide any instructions or give me a print-out with a confirmation on it or anything. They just said to show up. I received an automated call last week reminding me I had pre-ordered books, so I figured they were safe. Well, they were safe. What Borders failed to mention was their “plan” for distributing books. They gave everybody who had pre-ordered books a wrist band when they came to “check in” at the store. They had 7 colors of wrist bands, 150 bands per color. They sold the books in order of the color of band you had on. This was all well and good except I had no idea they would do it this way. I had looked this past week and hadn’t even been able to find anything that said what time the “festivities” started. So, I thought we were safe and wouldn’t have to wait forever (having pre-ordered months ago) nor would we have to show up to the store 4 hours early.

So, to pass the time, Dave, Jess, my friends Amanda and Dan, and I went to see the HP5 movie (again). While it was equally good the second time, it only made me more anxious for the book. After the movie, we came home, took Potter out, and played a little Wii before finally heading to Borders at 11.

When we got to Borders, it took us 10 minutes to even figure out that we needed wrist bands and probably another 10 minutes to wind our way to the check-in table, by which point we were given the second to last band color. But, no worries, they assured us that there were MORE than enough books for everyone. Good.

So at midnight they start selling, and as we watch the madness (because there were too many people for our color bands too even be in line yet), we notice that the line is moving VERY slowly. At 1am they were still just selling to the second color. So, my genius strikes and I get the idea to send Dave to Wal-mart to see if the line is shorter/faster there. Sure enough, he gets our books there and we’re home reading before we would’ve even gotten our books from Borders.

And read is all I’ve done all day. I went to sleep at about 5:30 this morning and woke up at 7, when Dave got up to go play golf. Because my mind wouldn’t stop thinking about the book, I just got on up and started reading again. And, with the exception of a few dog walks, some meals, and a lot of bathroom breaks, I read all day. And loved every minute of it.

Without saying anything about the plot, let me just say that this is bittersweet for me. I love Harry Potter. I just do. Can’t explain it. And while I’m glad to have all of my questions answered now, I’m sad that there are no more Harry stories in my future. So, like I said, it’s bittersweet…but totally worth it.

Entertainment Weekend!

There will be no end to the fun and entertainment going on at my house this weekend! My sister, Jessica, got here last night around 8 to kick it all off. With her came our brand new Wii (yay!) which we started playing as soon as we had fed our bellies last night. So far, I’m in love, though still getting used to the whole idea of the remote. Fun, fun, though.

Tonight, however, is the BIG night…the night we’ve been waiting for for a VERY long time…it’s Harry Potter night! This will kick off with my second visit to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the movies with Jessica and some friends. Though this is fun in-and-of itself, it’s really only the appetizer. Because after the movie, Jessica, Dave, and I will head to Borders for the Grand Hallows Ball to eagerly await 12:01 when we FINALLY get Book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This will be followed by the making of a big pot of coffee to keep me awake for as long as possible so I can get to the end and find EVERYTHING out! My goal is to be done by Sunday morning. We’ll see.

So, as you might guess, pretty much Saturday will be all Harry Potter all the time. Okay, I might take Potter outside a time or two. Then, until Jessica leaves on Tuesday, we will spend our time talking about Harry Potter, playing Harry Potter (and other games) on the Wii, watching movies and whatnot, and generally doing nothing productive:) Sounds like an ideal weekend!

I tell you all of this in advance because I will not be getting on the internet from the time I get the book until I finish it; I HATE spoilers and will not answer the phone to people I think will tell me unwanted information. And since I can’t police the internet quite as well, I won’t be getting on here. So, you might hear from me Sunday:)

Until then, enjoy your weekends!

(by the way, this picture seems WAY old, but it’s really barely a year old; it was taken on the day my niece, Grace, was born. but it’s the most recent “useable” picture I had of Jessica and I!)